A Charming Ode to Dreams, Friendship, and DIY Cinema

In Superboys of Malegaon, Nasir (Adarsh Gourav) isn’t just a wedding videographer—he’s a dreamer, a cinematic Don Quixote with a camcorder. His grand ambition? To turn his brother’s modest video parlor in Malegaon into a thriving movie theater, as packed as the one across the street. Of course, no dream is complete without a ragtag team of equally enthusiastic (and slightly misguided) friends.

Directed by Reema Kagti and written by Kagti and Varun Grover, Superboys is a love letter to independent filmmaking, peppered with goofy charm and familiar struggles of DIY cinema. Inspired by the 2008 documentary Supermen of Malegaon, the film captures the infectious spirit of small-town movie magic—but at its heart, it’s a moving tribute to friendship.

Despite Malegaon being over 200 miles away from Bollywood’s epicenter, Mumbai, its cinephiles aren’t immune to the long arm of antipiracy laws. Nasir learns this the hard way when his early film experiments—splicing Bollywood action sequences with slapstick Keatonesque gags—land him in trouble. Undeterred, he and his friends—Shafique (Shashank Arora), Aleem (Pallav Singh), Akram (Anuj Duhan), Irfan (Saqib Ayub), and Farogh (Vineet Singh)—set out to shoot their own homegrown feature. Against all odds, it becomes a local sensation. But with success comes tension, and cracks begin to show in their tight-knit brotherhood.

In a world where movie theaters are packed with men, Superboys subtly acknowledges the gender gap in Malegaon’s film culture. Trupti (Manjiri Pupala), the film’s lone woman on set, stands out, while a subplot involving Shabeena (Muskkaan Jaferi) gently expands the story’s scope beyond its all-male bubble.

However, the emotional anchor of the film isn’t Nasir—it’s the weary yet lovable Shafique, a textile worker whose quiet resilience makes him Superboys’ unlikely hero. When he coughs up blood, the film shifts gears, signaling a raw, emotional depth beneath its playful exterior. In the end, Shafique becomes both the Superman of this story and the antidote to cynicism—a reminder that even in the most makeshift of film sets, dreams are worth chasing.

Ratings

Acting: 4/5

Direction: 4/5

Screenplay: 5/5

Originality: 5/5

OVERALL – 4.5/5

“SPIRITED, HEARTWARMING”